Cape Hatteras

Sunshine, wind, sand and sea. When I think of Cape Hatteras and the National Seashore I think of strolling on the beach with the waves crashing on the shore. Unfortunately for me, Fred does not share my same enthusiasm for the ocean. Though we did see a lot of interesting sights, we only walked the beach once.  But there were so many other interesting things to see and do that we ended up staying an extra day so we could get it all done.

We stayed at a really great campground in Wave NC, just south of Rodanthe (If you are a Nicolas Sparks fan, you've heard of Rodanthe) called Camp Hatteras. The Island is not very wide at this point, maybe a quarter of a mile across and the campground is on both sides of the road. We opted to stay on the Sound side (Pamlico Sound) rather than the ocean side. We are so glad that we did: First, the sand dunes on the ocean side are so tall that you can't even see the water, two the sound of the waves crashing all night long did not interrupt our sleep and third, but not last, we were able to enjoy the beautiful sunsets.

Unfortunately, we never seem to utilize the amenities at these campgrounds that we are staying at.

We learnt that there are five lighthouses along the Outer Banks. We were lucky enough to have seen four of them. The first one was the solid white one on Orcacoke. The second one is probably the most popular and the most photographed lighthouse in the United States.

The Cape Hatteras lighthouse with its black and white spiral stripes. We saw a wonderful movie at the Visitor's Center that showed how they moved the lighthouse from it's original location almost 3000 feet away to it's new location in 1999. It had to be moved because of severe erosion. It was an amazing feat of workmanship!! We could have taken the opportunity to climb the 200 plus steps to the top of the lighthouse, but I won't do it because of my fear of heights and Fred says that when they start telling you the number of steps, it's probably not going to be a fun experience!!  We were content to look at it from ground level.





The second lighthouse that we saw was the Bodie Lighthouse. This one is a bit smaller than Hatteras and is identified by it's horizontal bands of black and white stripes.

 Each band is 27 feet wide!!

 Even if we had wanted to climb up to the top of this one, we could not.  There were storm cells in the area and they do not allow you up to the top if there is a threat of lightning. Something to do with being the tallest thing for miles around and climbing up metal stairs! For those of you brave enough and in better shape then we are, they do charge an additional fee in order to climb to the top of the lighthouse.








The last lighthouse that we saw was the Currituck Lighthouse on the northern end of the Island.

We never did find out what the theory was behind the different colors of the lighthouses. Ocracoke was all white, Hatteras, Bodie and the one we didn't see Cape Lookout are all black and white (different patterns obviously so sailors could distinguish between the three from the sea, with Cape Lookout having large black and white diamond shapes on it). And then Currituck being just the natural red brick. It doesn't matter what they look like I never get tired of visiting a lighthouse.

One of the most unique and interesting places that we visited was the Chicamacomico Life Savings Station in Rodanthe. The couple Linda and James who are volunteers and run the place gave a fascinating presentation of the site. There were numerous life saving stations up and down the coast. While people come to this area all the time to see the lighthouses and marvel at how they saved the ships from disaster...it was really the men of the life saving stations who were the unsung hero.  Of the 178,000 people who were on ships that went down off the Outer Banks, 177,000 were rescued by the life saving stations!!!

These men went out in these little boats as a five man crew and picked up the ship wrecked people and brought them back to shore, giving them medical attention, food, clothing and a place to stay until another ship could come and get them. Most of the time, the ships wrecked because of a storm, but it didn't matter to these men how bad the weather was, it was their job to rescue and save. These were the precursors to the current US Coast Guard of today.


This was one of the most interesting presentations that we have seen in awhile. If you are ever in the area, it is definitely a must see.

1874 Life Saving Station

1911 Life Saving Station

As a side note, Linda at the station, told us about the experience in the town of Rodanthe when they filmed the Nicolas Sparks movie, Nights in Rodanthe there. She is hilarious.

She had a bit part in the movie as a patient of the Richard Gere character. In the movie he had to give her CPR. As she says, "Who wouldn't want Richard Gere to give them mouth to mouth and chest compressions." She said that she's probably the only person getting CPR with a smile on her face!!!  The building with the blue shutters was the Inn at Rodanthe where Richard Gere and Diana Lane were at. It is now a private home.



We of course can not go places without Fred looking up a geocache or two, or three or.... We were able to do several of them while on the Island. Sometimes it works out perfectly with places that we are already going to visit as was the case when we went to the Wright Brothers National Monument in Kitty Hawk.

This was a virtual cache which means that there is no hidden container to find. Instead, you have to get some information from the area that you are sent to. You usually have to answer a few questions and in some cases you have to post a picture of yourself and maybe your GPS at a certain location or with a certain item or place in the background. Here is Fred at the geocache location in Kitty Hawk.




While Fred likes to document his visits with a geocache, I prefer to take a picture in front of the sign.

 Since Fred has a difficult time figuring out how to use the cameras and centering a person within a shot (see if you can find me in the picture of the Currituck Lighthouse..) Fred is usually the one in my pictures.  It was very interesting to see the technology and thought process that these men had back in the early 1900's and how the basic mechanics of flight has changed very little over the past 110 years.




Just for fun (well I think it's funny, we'll see what Fred has to say once he's found out that I posted these) here are some of the pictures that Fred has taken.

The Lighthouse Keepers House at Cape Hatteras

Bodie Lighthouse

At least you can see me, just not the rest of the picture!!!

The last place that we visited on Hatteras was Fort Raleigh and the original Roanake settlement.

It was shocking to hear how unprepared these settlers were for life here in America. You wonder what was going through their minds and what their lives must have been like back in England for them to leave everything and everyone that they knew to pursue a new life in a wild and mostly unknown environment.



People say that Fred and I are adventurous because we like to travel and see new and different things. But we know where we are going and in most cases what to expect when we get there. I don't know if I would have made a good pioneer.